Media, others tweet on Bob Woodward

Some members of the press and others took to Twitter to joke about Bob Woodward’s claims of being “threatened” by the White House, saying that the full text of the emails don’t back up the Washington Post reporter.

“I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim,” National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling wrote in the e-mail, referring to Woodward’s claim that President Barack Obama “moved the goal posts” on negotiations to avoid the sequester.

POLITICO LIVE: Woodward emails revealed

Some journalists on Twitter are siding with the White House over one of the icons of their profession and say the full text of the e-mail calls into question Woodward’s claim that he had been threatened.

Prominent media writers at the New York Times and National Public Radio and a well-know conservative blogger were among those who shrugged off the supposedly threatening language.

“When it comes to his chosen profession, Bob Woodward has had the kind of career most media professionals can only dream of,” Benen wrote. “… Which is why it saddens me to see him become so reckless for no reason. I just can’t figure out what’s gotten into Woodward, or why he’s acting so erratically. But at this point, it seems Woodward is doing lasting, possibly irreparable harm to his once-sterling reputation, and that is a genuine shame.”

Josh Marshall of the liberal Talking Points Memo suggested it would make him trust Woodward’s reporting less in the future.

Does fact that BW portrayed that email as threat make anyone wonder abt any of those highly novelistic Woodward fly on wall vignettes?— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 28, 2013